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Living: Kerrang!

When your child is a rock god but still lives at home, he needs his own space, says Caroline Brannigan

When Sarah Mains found her living room filled with a drum kit, huge amplifiers and speakers every weekend, she decided her teenage son needed his own space.

Paul, 16, is a drummer in a band. His mum, more tolerant than most, said they could practise in her house. And although they didn’t play all the time, all their paraphernalia was there from Friday to Sunday. Mains, trying to relax in front of the television, felt like a roadie at a rock festival.

And then there were the neighbours. The house was what developers call attached, meaning it was detached except for one bit, Paul’s bedroom, over an archway between the two homes. It wasn’t the most tactful choice of the four bedrooms but it was the only one big enough for the drum kit, which was kept there during the week.